This is a great forum-I've learned LOTS from it. We need a barn for our 2 horses and are considering pre-fab because of time constraints. BUT we live in an area that doesnt have them locally. Anyone ever have one shipped in? Any companies out there that will construct it as well? Any advice at all would be much appreciated. Thanks

-- George Scott (george@girlgeorge.com), May 23, 2001

Answers

Hi George! They are expensive, and to have them trucked in, oh boy, another pile of money required, this part I know cause we are in trucking. Where are you located? Do you need a closed in barn? Horses are tough, what they need is shelter from wind, rain, snow and sleet, not locked up air-tight. A very simple three sided shed made from locust poles and roughsawn lumber would be fine, and you could close off one end to store hay, grain, etc. Such a shed could be put up, with labor included, for less than 3,000 total. Much less if you have timber on your place you could use to help construct it. Call a few local construction people and get some free estimates, emphasize that you want a simple structure, nothing fancy, you might be pleasantly surprised.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), May 23, 2001.

I guess it depends on what you need in the way of a barn. Handi- Clasp look good from what I have seen of them shopping at the Horse Fair. Cost is relative to what you are willing to pay/immediate need, so you sort of have to set your limits on spending yourself in that respect. You can usually find carpenters locally who can handle the construction of something like that, if you can't physically or because of time constraints.

Some friends of mine needed a barn ASAP, and their horses were able to deal with a lot in the way of weather, so they put up a garage for them, and sectioned it off inside for stalls. However, they had to store hay elsewhere, because rats from the next door dairy farm ran willy-nilly through it for spilled grain and they had to keep them from defecating on the hay and ruining it. It also flooded like a bear in the spring, but forethought in building it atop a rise instead of somewhere that it would become a low-lying area would prevent that.

In a book that I have on multi-purpose barns, they have plans for converting a two door garage into a barn by blocking up the doors with boards in a channel on the lower part, and section of steel bars at the top so that there was ventilation available, and the boards could be removed at some point in the future if they wished to convert it back to a garage (or sell it to non-horse owners).

It is not a bad idea at all to have seperate hay storage, since a good portion of barn fires start in hay, or are accelerated by it. A rough sided shed is ideal for this, or, some people around here buy old semi trailers and use those. Be aware however, that many of the ones that are sold off have leaks, and you'll have to deal with those -- re-roofing them in some manner, or wrapping with a tarp.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), May 24, 2001.

We used our garage with make-shift stalls for the first year here. We stored hay in the horse trailer. We had our 5 stall barn built for $7000, but we store hay in the loft. Storing the hay elsewhere is a better idea, as mentioned, due to fires.

-- Epona (crystalepona2000@yahoo.com), May 24, 2001.

We put up one of the "space-age" fabric barns. Cover is some kind of space age fabric that has something like a 20-year life, stretched over arched metal ribs that are set on posts (something about the size of railroad ties) on 12' centers. Open span ... lots of room ... and relatively inexpensive compared to other types of building.

-- SFM in KY (timberln@hyperaction.net), May 24, 2001.

Hi George,

Annie has a great suggestion. When I was studying for my Equine Management degree, my vet med classes were taught by Dr. Thomas Munford, a nationally recognised equine vet and Standardbred breeder. This was in central Illinois where Summers were hot and HUMID, Winters wet and often brutally cold. (The North wind comes right off the lake at Chicago and down across the praries.) Dr Munford kept his mares on pasture year round with access to woods and a stream and a 3-SIDED SHED. Those mares were some of the healthiest I've ever seen and he had NONE of the problems I was plagued with at a breeding farm where the mares were stalled every day. Unless You've high powered show horses that absolutely MUST be stabled, please strongly consider the shed. It's far superior to stabling.

Please e-mail me if You've any questions. good Luck!!

Randle

-- Randle Gay (rangay@hotmail.com), May 24, 2001.

Hello George, I do not know if you are interested or what size of barn you are looking for but I am involved in building tarp barns. These barns are extremly durable, and also portable. Don't let the portable part make you think that the tarp material will not last, because it will. As a matter of a fact if the matteral was to tear I would gladly replace it with anouther for free. If you would like to get ahold of me my address is (Stumpyd69@yahoo.com) and my name is Tim.

-- TIm Clark (Stumpyd69@yahoo.com), July 22, 2001.